In a computer network environment, web servers are used to respond to users' web page requests, which are transmitted over the computer network. Web page requests, also referred to as content requests, typically are made by a browser running on a user's computer. A web server monitors one or more computer network address/port endpoints for web page requests and responds to the web page requests by transmitting web pages to the requester. Web servers may be special purpose devices, or they may be implemented with a software program running on a general purpose computer. The service capacity of a web server limits the number of web page requests that may be received and responded to in a given time interval.
A web service system may include one web server or more than one web server. Generally, when a web service system includes more than one web server, the web service system is designed so that the multiple web servers each respond to web page requests. Typically, a user's web page request is directed towards one of the web servers, and that web server responds to that web page request. It is also typical for web service systems designed to receive a large number of web page requests to include many web servers.
In general, in a system with multiple web servers, a system operator or operators manage the content offered by the various web servers. A system operator may sometimes wish to access the data that has been generated and stored on each web server. For example, a system operator may want to access the web server log files generated by each web server. This can be difficult and time-consuming, because it can be awkward to gather and access files located on different computers.